Jimmy Kimmel has lashed out at Donald Trump over his defence of an ICE agent who shot a mother-of-three dead in Minneapolis.
The woman, named as 37-year-old poet Renee Nicole Good, was shot dead by an as-yet-unidentified ICE agent on Wednesday.
ICE claimed she deliberately drove her burgundy SUV at agents, while the Department of Homeland Security claimed the middle-aged white woman ‘weaponized her vehicle’ and called her actions an ‘act of domestic terrorism’, but witnesses dispute this characterisation.
Trump said the shooting appeared to be an act of ‘self-defence,’ adding that after watching a clip of the incident, it was ‘hard to believe’ the agent was still alive. However, other clips purportedly showed the ICE officer was unharmed.
He added: ‘The woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, wilfully and viciously ran over the ICE officer, who seems to have shot her in self-defence.’
In a monologue for his show on Wednesday, Kimmel spoke of the shooting and Trump’s response, calling him a ‘maniac’.
He lambasted Trump’s characterisation of Renee’s behaviour during her final moments: ‘Now, I saw this video. It didn’t look like anybody got run over to me. It looked to me like a woman got scared, tried to drive away, and they shot her’.
He was quick to add, however, that a ruling on blame was for ‘the court to decide’.
In a monologue for his show on Wednesday, Jimmy Kimmel (pictured) spoke of the shooting and Trump’s response, calling him a ‘maniac’
Good was shot three times in the face at a protest in Minneapolis on Wednesday and died at the scene after trying to drive off
Meanwhile, Trump took to Truth Social calling the deceased driver ‘very disorderly’ and someone who ‘viciously ran over the ICE Officer’
Footage of the shooting showed the victim blocking the road with her car until ICE agents told her to move away.
She reversed to head back down the road as an agent tried to open its driver-side door handle before she drove off. Three shots then rang out.
Good lost control of the SUV and slammed it into parked cars and a light pole at high speed, prompting screams of shock from horrified onlookers. Her SUV was seen with a bullet hole through the driver’s side windshield.
Following the fatal ICE shooting, Minneapolis’ mayor Jacob Frey demanded ICE ”get the f**k out’ of the city.
He said: ‘We do not want you here. Your stated reason for being in this city is safety and you are doing exactly the opposite.’
Frey, a Democrat, spoke of how ‘people are being hurt’ and ‘families are being ripped apart’ by immigration officials.
He said on Wednesday: ‘Long-term Minneapolis residents that have contributed so greatly to our city, to our culture, to our economy, are being terrorized and now somebody is dead. That’s on you – and it’s also on you to leave.’
Frey dismissed ICE’s justification of self defense as ‘garbage,’ stating that he reviewed video of the shooting and ‘I can tell you that is bull****.’
Bullet holes in the car’s windscreen and bloodied seats were clearly visible
Photos of the woman’s car showed children’s toys inside
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz echoed Frey’s analysis, saying in a statement released on X: ‘I’ve seen the video. Don’t believe this propaganda machine.
‘The state will ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation to ensure accountability and justice.’
Also joining the chorus of critics was California governor Gavin Newsom, who said the shooting was ‘state-sponsored terrorism.’
He added that ICE ‘has rampaged across America’ over the past year.
‘His administration has driven extremism and cruelty while discarding basic safeguards and accountability,’ he wrote.
‘Now, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen is dead. Donald Trump owns this. His deliberate escalation of intimidation and chaos has consequences. His reckless crackdown must end.’
But Trump’s political allies have doubled down on their support for the president and ICE.
JD Vance called on Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to ‘work even harder’ amid growing protests against the agency.
‘To the radicals assaulting them, doxxing them, and threatening them: congratulations, we’re going to work even harder to enforce the law,’ he wrote on X.
Mourners gathered for a vigil on Wednesday night
Protesters clash with police after a driver of a vehicle was shot on Wednesday amid an immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis
The president has previously claimed on his Truth Social page that Good was ‘a professional agitator’ who ‘violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer’ before the agent acted in self defense.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem then reiterated that claim as she spoke to reporters Wednesday night, claiming that Good had been ‘stalking’ agents prior to the shooting.
‘It’s very clear that this individual was harassing and impeding law enforcement operations,’ she said, before calling on federal prosecutors to charge individuals who use their vehicles to ram ICE agents as domestic terrorism.
